Freddie Mac

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 4.95% this week from 4.97% last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The mortgage giant's weekly survey asks lenders what rates they were offering -- and the upfront fees they would charge -- for borrowers with good credit and a 20% down payment. Upfront fees averaged 0.7% of the loan amount. The average rate offered on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular as a refinance loan for borrowers wanting to pay off their mortgages faster, was 4.32%.

The typical rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage tumbled below 3.5% for the first time this week, Freddie Mac said -- the latest record low in a trend that has fired up refinancings but done little to ignite housing demand. Freddie Mac's weekly survey of what lenders are offering to rock-solid borrowers showed the 30-year rate at an average of 3.49%, down from 3.53% last week. The 15-year fixed loan fell from 2.83% to 2.8%. Borrowers would have paid 0.7% of the loan amount in lender fees and points to obtain the rates, according to Freddie Mac. The survey underscores the success of the Federal Reserve in pushing down interest rates to support a sputtering economy that shows few signs of inflation.

Mortgage rates are sharply lower on news of a weakening job market, with the 30-year fixed loan averaging 3.88% this week and the 15-year fixed at a record low of 3.11%, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the 30-year loan was down from 3.98% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said in its latest weekly report. The 15-year mortgage, popular with refinancers seeking to pay off their loans, was down from 3.21% a week ago. Its previous record low of 3.13% was set March 8. The start rates for adjustable mortgages were little changed.

Lenders were offering 30-year fixed mortgages at an average 3.56% this week, up slightly from last week, while the 15-year fixed loan held steady at 2.77%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Start rates on adjustable mortgages were flat to slightly higher, Freddie Mac said in the survey , released Thursday. The 30-year rate, pegged at 3.53% for the three previous weeks, is now up about a quarter of a percentage point from its record lows late last year.   QUIZ: How much do you know about mortgages?

Speculators poured into shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Monday, the first day of trading after the Obama administration in effect gave the companies blank checks of federal support. But exactly how the government's move makes a payoff for Fannie and Freddie shareholders more likely in the long run, rather than less likely, ought to puzzle most investors. The stock market's reaction mystifies veteran banking analyst Bert Ely at Ely & Co. in Alexandria, Va. "They're not going to get anything back," he says of any investors who have long-term faith in the mortgage giants' shares.

A congressional investigation has found that Countrywide Financial Corp. made 173 preferential mortgage loans to employees of housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which purchased many of the company's loans. The mortgages were made as part of Countrywide's VIP program, known informally as "Friends of Angelo" for former Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo R. Mozilo. The program offered discounted rates and other perks. Previous investigations found that VIP loans were given to some influential Washington players, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.

Newt Gingrich appears to have a different definition of the word “historian” than, say, Webster's. Gingrich was asked last week at a Republican debate in Michigan about his $300,000 contract to work for mortgage giant Freddie Mac five years ago. Gingrich said he was a retained as a “historian” and that he warned executives there that reckless loans would lead to collapse. “I offered them advice on precisely what they didn't do,” he said at the debate. “My advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, 'We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that's what the government wants us to do.' As I said to them at the time, this is a bubble.